The Calm Before
by thosedarndursleys
Summary: As times grow darker, Remus and Sirius find themselves on an odd assignment for Dumbledore.


**A/N:** Hello, all! Thank you for taking the time to read my story! This was written for round 7 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Season 5. I, as keeper of the Caerphilly Catapults, was tasked with writing about two witches or wizards going undercover in a Muggle town and having to learn to live like Muggles. For judging purposes, the final word count for this story is 1, 129.

The Calm Before

October 1, 1979

The ride to Bewdley had been peaceful, if not a bit strange for the poor cab driver who'd had the blessing of picking up two gentlemen at the Kidderminster train station. The long-haired one who had sat directly behind him for the duration of the ride had studied the vehicle with wide eyes as it pulled out of the car park, and the driver would have ventured to say that his eyes had grown even larger as he took in the other vehicles on the road. When the car pulled up to a small cottage on the outskirts of town, the two men had ambled out quickly, the fatigued one tossing a handful of pounds at him as the other pulled their luggage out of the boot. The travelers thanked him profusely just before he drove away, and the driver couldn't help but wonder what trouble they would find themselves in before the day was over.

* * *

The men had hardly made it through the threshold when Remus was forced to snatch Sirius' wand from his hand.

" _Wingardium Levi—_ "

" _No_ , Sirius," Remus sighed as he put the wand in his coat pocket. "Remember what Dumbledore said. We're not to use magic unless it's strictly necessary."

"Moony, this is necessary! How d'you expect us to lug these trunks up the stairs without it?"

"Carry them, you wanker," Remus said with a roll of his eyes. "You take one and I'll take the other. Your arms are capable of lifting more than a wand, you know."

Sirius let out a longsuffering groan as he grabbed the handle of his trunk. "Look, I understand that Mr. and Mrs. Evans need a bit more surveillance with all that's been going on, but is all of this really necessary?" He asked as a grunt escaped his lips. "Shit, Remus. What'd you pack in this thing? Anyway, I could have just gone undercover as a stray in their neighborhood. This whole cottage-on-the-riverside thing seems a tad excessive, yeah?"

Remus' laugh was audible from the next room over as he passed Sirius in the hallway to drop his trunk on a mattress.

"That's _your_ trunk, idiot," he called through the doorway, "and it _is_ necessary. You wouldn't last a week skulking around their street before something went wrong. You'd get distracted by some child with food or you'd bite the postman. Plus, I'd still need a place to stay in between my shifts, and I'd rather not figure out the Muggle world on my own."

Remus waited for a moment, expecting Sirius' response, and cocked his head to the side when none came. He left his bedroom to investigate, only to find Sirius face down on his own mattress.

"Sirius," Remus laughed, "Please tell me you're not that tired, mate. It was barely a flight of stairs! I've seen you sprint three times as many at Hogwarts."

The hand gesture that Remus received in response was none too polite, and he decided to leave Sirius to his misery as he descended the stairs to put on a pot of tea.

* * *

Well, Remus had _planned_ to put on a pot of tea. After spinning the numerous knobs on the stovetop only to leave the kitchen smelling like flammable potion ingredients without producing any heat, he had resigned himself to a glass of water as he studied items around him.

The large, cooling trunk tucked into the corner of the room was easy enough to understand, and the sink was identical to what he had used back at home. The sitting room adjacent to the kitchen was familiar enough, except for the telly-vision centered between the cottage's front two windows. Lily had told him about it, of course, but that didn't mean Remus knew exactly what to _do_ with it. He fiddled with the knobs on that as well, and was quite pleased with himself when he managed to make the pictures come to life. He struggled a bit with the box's volume, but that worked out to his advantage as Sirius came stumbling down the stairs, complaining that the noise had woken him.

When Remus finally managed to get the telly to a more manageable volume, he looked up to find Sirius crouched at the coffee table, flipping through a stack of parchment. He crawled the few steps over to the man in order to read over his shoulder.

"Well, we don't have to actually start on surveillance until tomorrow evening," Remus said after studying the notes in front of him. "What do you want to do until then?"

Sirius looked up with a grin. He knew _exactly_ what he wanted to do.

* * *

Sirius lay flat on the entryway floor, a tome of white, brittle paper open in front of him.

"Sirius, mate," Remus said with a raised brow, " _what_ are you doing?"

The man simply pushed his hair from his eyes as he studied the directory in front of him.

"Hand me the phone, will you?"

"Sorry, the what?"

"The telephone—it's the machine on the side table with the coiled string attached to it."

Remus lifted the object carefully before carrying it as far as its longer string would allow, handing it to Sirius when he was within reach.

"How do you know what that is?" he asked, sitting beside the other man on the floor.

"Remember when I took Muggle Studies in order to win over Dorcas Meadowes in third year? Well, we spent an entire fortnight studying these telephones, and apparently Muggle kids use them for quite the pranks."

"What do you mean?"

Sirius flashed a smile at his friend as he lifted the phone from its base and dialed a random number from the directory. Remus opened his mouth to speak again, but Sirius was quick to shush him as a woman answered the call.

"Hello, ma'am," Sirius said, and Remus could tell that he had turned on his charm. It sounded no different from when he would try to woo Professor McGonagall into getting him out of detention. "Is Amanda there?" There was a brief pause before Sirius continued, "Sorry, Amanda Hug and Kiss," he said with a grin, and Remus didn't know what was so funny, but Sirius broke into laughter a mere second later before slamming the phone down and looking up at his mate once more. His eyes lit up with mischief, and Remus couldn't help but think that he hadn't seen that kind of light in Sirius' eyes since they had left Hogwarts over a year earlier.

And even if Sirius' laughter was all that came from this surveillance detail, Remus decided that it would all be worth it. Then, thinking of just how sappy that thought had sounded, Remus burst into laughter, too.


End file.
